The Everlasting Covenant - 13.3 God's Purpose for Israel

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13.3 God’s Purpose for Israel
by Hubert F. Sturges, www.everlastingcovenant.com, March 2009

Topics:
God’s Purpose for Israel
Glory of the “Latter House”
This What Happened in Israel
Mandate for Church Today
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God’s Purpose for Israel

Before finishing with anointing the “most holy” let us step back to view some history. Is there a mandate, albeit a funded mandate in the Plan of Salvation?

The everlasting covenant, first presented to Adam and Eve, promised that “I will put enmity between thee and the woman” (Genesis 3:15). God gave man a conscience, a sense of what is right. Man must then believe, consent to the work of grace, and purposefully resist evil (DA 668).

Noah was found to be “a just man and perfect in his generations” (Genesis 6:8,9) in an evil age. God would destroy the earth with a flood, but first He made a covenant with Noah to save his family by building an ark (Genesis 6:18,19). Noah believed (Hebrews 11:7), was a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5), and then he got to work and built the ark.

Abram was promised a family, through whom all the world would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3)(12). This blessing included his family and extended to the families of all his descendants. If Abram had a dysfunctional family, what would we know of him today? However, Abram kept the laws of God (Genesis 26:4,5). He taught and he commanded his household after him (Genesis 18:19).

At Sinai, God spoke to a nation, a restatement of the everlasting covenant given to Abraham:

    4 “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.
    5 “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
    6 “And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.” Exodus 19:4-6

In verse four, God invoked His power in delivering them from the Egyptians. Through this same power He would make them a “peculiar treasure.” They would be the “head and not the tail” (Deuteronomy 28:13). This wonderful promise included not only dependance on the grace of God, but also the requirement that they be diligent in all areas (Proverbs 22:29).

To be “a kingdom of priests” (see also Daniel 12:2) was a call to evangelize the world “for all the earth is mine.” And how could they be “an holy nation?” The ten commandments were given specifically as guidelines (Psalm 119:105; 19:8). The preamble, “I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” (Exodus 20:2), invoked His power to make the promises of the ten commandments real in their lives.

Does the grace of God mean that we can sit back and let Him do it all? Or does it mean that God will make our “strenuous efforts to be successful?” To make “strenuous effort” is legalistic. But this is not the battle that the Christian must fight. The Christian does not battle with Satan, he must battle with “self”. It is easy to “do something” to be saved, but Christ desires only that we submit to Him as Lord, and consent to the work of grace to change the life.

The covenant was a clearly expressed mandate for the nation of Israel. There was no doubt as to what God expected of Israel, and no doubt as to how he expected to get it done. Further, this is the first expression of the covenant indicating God’s purpose for the end time. The “new covenant” (Jeremiah 31:31-34), the covenant for the Christian church (1 Peter 2:9), and the gospel commission (Matthew 28:19,20) all build on this Sinai Covenant.
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The Glory of the “Latter House”

Coming back to Daniel 9:24, let us consider one more interpretation of anointing the Most Holy:

At the end of the 490 years the Most Holy Place in the temple was to be anointed by Jesus, Himself. Haggai 2:3-9 prophesied that “The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former” because Jesus Christ, Himself would be there (see also Isaiah 60:7).

When the foundation of the second temple was laid (Ezra 3:10-13), among the joyful celebration of the people was heard the weeping of the “ancient men,” because the second temple was so much less than the former one. In fact, each dimension of the new temple was just 1/2 that of Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 6). Applying mathematics, 1/2x1/2x1/2, the second temple was 1/8th the size of Solomon’s temple!

Most important was that there was no ark of the covenant and no Shekinah glory in the Most Holy Place. If Jesus were accepted by the Jewish nation, He would have been inaugurated and anointed on earth and become the glory of the temple, the new Shekinah glory!

    1 "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
    2 "For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
    3 "And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.”
    7 "All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.” Isaiah 60:1-3, 7

As mentioned before, qodesh is usually translated as a holy place. In this passage in Isaiah 60 the glory of the house is not separate from the glory of the Messiah. If Jesus were accepted when He came, He would, Himself, be the glory of the Temple!

It was the purpose of God that Jesus be accepted by His chosen people, and that He be anointed and inaugurated on earth as the new Shekinah glory. There would then follow a reign of righteousness on this earth that would merge with the promised “New Heaven and New Earth.” (13) The prophecy of Daniel 8:14 for 2300 days was to be sealed to allow “room for” the kingdom of righteousness and a glorious conclusion of the era of sin and suffering.

In other words, the prophecy of 2300 days till the sanctuary be cleansed was a prophecy that would have never been fulfilled if God’s people had accepted their Messiah. An example of this kind of prophecy is the prophecy of Jonah that Nineveh would be destroyed in 40 days. Since Nineveh repented, this prophecy was never fulfilled!

Since the prophecies of Isaiah were not fulfilled, we will never know exactly the details of the reign of righteousness. This illustrates that many prophecies may not be fulfilled in exactly the way we often interpret them. It is important that we know the prophecy, then as the events unfold God’s people will recognize what is happening.
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This is what happened in Israel:

    37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
    38 "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
    39 "For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Matthew 23:37-39

Jesus was inaugurated, enthroned, and anointed by the heavenly hosts.

    “When Christ passed within the heavenly gates, He was enthroned amidst the adoration of the angels.... The Pentecostal outpouring was Heaven’s communication that the Redeemer’s inauguration was accomplished.... As priest and king, He received all authority in heaven and on earth, and was the Anointed One over His people.” Acts of the Apostles, 38, 39

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A Mandate for the Church Today

To every Seventh-day Adventist the question comes: “Why, after 160 years, are we still here today?” I propose that we might find answers in the everlasting covenant and in the mandate given to Israel at the restoration.

The covenant given at Sinai is repeated in the New Testament:

    “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

That is a high calling. It is given in positive terms – that is who we ARE! To say that we have fallen short is not to say anything new. Is the church going to fail as did Israel of old? Has God given up on humankind? He speaks in this passage:

    “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).

    “But like the stars in the vast circuit of their appointed path, God's purposes know no haste and no delay.... None but Christ can fashion anew the character that has been ruined by sin. He came to expel the demons that had controlled the will. He came to lift us up from the dust, to reshape the marred character after the pattern of His divine character, and to make it beautiful with His own glory.” White EG: Maranatha. Chapter 1.

Within 300 years after Christ the Christian Church fell into a new idolatry, and a new heathenism. Yet, God has always had His remnant. For 1260 years the church was in captivity. In 1517 the church again began to come out. As the waves of the incoming tide wash higher and higher on the beach, more and more truth was restored to the church during the Reformation. In the time of the end, God intervened one more time. One more remnant was established in a place prepared by God so that it could grow. Again, the close of probation approaches. Will God’s church yet become “an holy nation?” Will there yet be a people waiting for Jesus to Come?

The unfulfilled mandate to Israel is now ours. God has established the church to:

• finish transgression
Be salt and light, to restrain sin by our presence and our example. To counter, oppose, restrain evil by every means at our disposal.

• make an end to sins
Consent to His grace and bring honor to God by holy living.

• make reconciliation
In this Day of Atonement, the sanctuary in Heaven is being cleansed. In the past it was enough to prepare a person to die in Christ. Now Jesus is preparing a people to live to see Him come. This is a time of soul searching. Listening for the Holy Spirit, to bring us to confess even unknown sin and seek forgiveness.

• bring in everlasting righteousness
It is for us to show to the world and to sinless beings that grace is sufficient to save. To present to our Lord a people completely committed and sealed, a first fruits to His glory! As in Old Testament times holy men, as brilliant lights walked this earth; even more so when Jesus comes again He will have “a people” waiting for Him!

• seal up the vision and prophecy
The vision was to be sealed only until the “time of the end” (Daniel 12:9). It is now our mandate to understand, to fulfill and to proclaim all the prophecies. Everything written in God’s Word now focuses on this end time!

• anoint the most Holy
Jesus was inaugurated, enthroned, anointed by the heavenly hosts when He ascended to Heaven. He has prepared mansions, but no one is there. He has made the New Jerusalem, but its streets are empty. His kingdom will not be complete until the redeemed of all ages, you and I are there!

God will have “an holy nation” waiting for Him when He comes. These are the wise, the 144,000, the remnant, the righteous and holy. These are the first fruits (17). These are the ones who will not quail in fear when Jesus comes again, for they have waited for Him.

    “And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation” (Isaiah 25:9).

At that time, His priestly ministry is finished and He has removed His priestly robes. He is crowned king of the everlasting kingdom by the redeemed of all ages as they pour, an unnumbered multitude, into the New Jerusalem. Don’t you want to be there?
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